NICOTIANA. 



NICOTIANA. 



Calyx tubular, 5-cleft. Corolla funnel-shaped or hypocrate- 

 riform, with a 5-cleft plaited spreading limb. Stamens declinate. 

 Stigma capitate. Capsule 2- (or many-) celled, 2-valved, open- 

 ing by 4 points. 



1081. ~N.TabacumLinn.sp.pl. 258. Woodv. t. 60. S.and 

 C. t. 37. Bigelow med. hot. ii. t. 40. R. and S. iv. 315. 

 Lehm. nicot. No. 4. — N. macrophylla Lehm. nicot. No. 3. N. la- 

 tissima Mill. diet. No. 1. — Hotter parts of America. (Common 

 Tobacco.) 



Root long, fibrous. Stem 5 or 6 feet high, erect, round, hairy, and 

 viscid, branching at top. Leaves sessile, very large, ovate or lanceolate, 

 acuminate, viscid, pale green. Bracts linear, acute. Flowers panicled 

 on the ends of the stem and branches. Calyx swelling, hairy, glutinous, 

 half as long as the corolla, ending in 5 acute segments. Corolla funnel- 

 shaped, swelling toward the top, the border dull red, expanding, with 

 5 acute lobes. Filaments inclined to one side, with oblong anthers. 

 Ovary ovate, style long and slender, stigma cloven. Capsule ovate, 

 invested with the calyx, 2-celled, 2-valved, but opening crosswise at 

 top, loculicidal. Seeds very numerous, small, somewhat reniform, 

 attached to a fleshy receptacle. — This species yields the Virginian, 

 Havannah, and pigtail tobaccos of the shops, and probably the principal 

 part of that which comes from India in the form of cheroots. It is a 

 powerful stimulant narcotic, employed medicinally as an errhine, in 

 infusion as an expectorant and sedative, and in vapour both as an 

 antispasmodic and to bring on nausea and fainting. Tobacco enemata 

 have been found useful in relaxing the parts implicated in strangulated 

 hernia, but the remedy is dangerous. When chewed it appears to act 

 deleteriously, impairing the appetite and bringing on torpor of the gastric 

 nerves. Although if smoked in moderate quantities it acts as a harm- 

 less excitant and sedative, yet it is a frequent cause of paralysis when 

 the practice is indulged in to excess. Oil of Tobacco, which is inhaled 

 and swallowed in the process of smoking is one of the most violent of 

 known poisons. The Hottentots are said to kill snakes by putting a 

 drop of it on their tongues, and tbe death of these reptiles is said to 

 take place as instantaneously as if by an electric shock ; dangerous 

 symptoms are reported to have followed the application of the ointment 

 to scald heads. 



The whole genus probably participates in the same qualities ; the 

 following only need be particularly noticed. 



1082. N. rustica Linn. sp. pi. 258. Lehm. nicot. 13. Plenck 

 offic. pi. t. 100. — South of Europe, Levant, Africa and 

 America. 



An annual. Stem round, erect, 2-3 feet high, covered with fetid 

 glutinous hairs. Leaves stalked, roundish ovate, entire, sometimes 

 rather cordate. Flowers green. Tube of the corolla cylindrical, longer 

 than the calyx; limb rather concave, with rounded obtuse segments. — 

 Syrian and Turkish Tobaccos are prepared from this species, which is 

 much more mild in its operation than the last. 

 513 L L 



